Head of a Youth

Catalogue Number	20
Inventory Number	82.AD.93.19
Typology	Head
Location	Taranto region
Dimensions	H: 13.4 cm; W: 12.2 cm; H (face): 10.4 cm

Light beige in color (Munsell 10 yr 8/3), with a talcous and porous consistency, many reflective particles, and infrequent calcareous inclusions. The head was made with a bivalve mold, evidenced by a seam dividing the front and the back sections; the ears were separately applied over the seam. In the back, the clay is bright orange in color (5 yr 7/6); the surface was covered by a layer of slip consisting of beige diluted clay.

Intact; the nose and the left ear are chipped; there are diffuse dark incrustations on the surfaces of the exterior and interior. See Appendix under “Description” (below) for additional observations.

– 1982, Antike Kunst Palladion (Basel, Switzerland), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1982.

Unpublished.

The head of the young man is set on a broad neck that tapers from the base; it tilts slightly to the left. The face is full; the large eyes have sharply outlined eyelids; the mouth is half open with fleshy lips, the thick ears are set forward, and the nose is broad at the base with pierced nostrils. The hair is parted in the middle and arranged in short, fine, wavy locks around the face, presenting a bifurcation of the two central locks of hair in the middle of the forehead. There is a circular hole above the left ear and another small hole above the upper lip. On the nape of the neck, the hair is arranged on either side of a central part in tousled, parallel locks, defined by cuts. From the arrangement of the hair, one may conjecture that a band or a wreath was set on the head.¹ Beneath the ears, one can see the seam that divides the two parts of the head. The eyes, mouth, dimple beneath the nose, and hair have all been finished with a sharp tool.

The face does not feature a typical childish smile; it seems rather to have the appearance of an adolescent. The closest comparison is with a Tarentine head in Basel, dated to the end of the fifth century BC. It presents similar facial characteristics, such as the rendering of the hair, the fleshy mouth, and the structure of the head, as well as similar technical details, such as the holes above the ears. The hairstyle is slightly different because in this example the locks are finer and more sparse.² The jug ears, the pudgy face, and the hairstyle distinguish the iconography of the boy or young man in later instances as well.³ The Getty head, perhaps later than the one in Basel, can be dated to the first half of the fourth century BC.

Appendix: The conical shape of the hole tapering toward the object’s interior indicates that a pointed instrument was inserted into the soft clay and then turned in a circular fashion to enlarge the hole. If this were modern, the hole would have been cut into hardened clay, using tools such as drill bits, which would have left a distinctive crisp edge at the entrance and interior exit of the hole. Instead, both have a soft, rounded edge, which is expected with manipulation in soft clay. Equally, the interior surface of the hole appears identical to the exterior and interior clay surfaces of the object. If the hole were recent, the interior surface would have been very smooth and different in appearance from the rest of the object’s surface.

The texture and thickness of the obscuring soil incrustation is very even on both exterior and interior, drawing some suspicion. Its strong attachment to the terracotta surface, evidenced in the area at the base of the neck where mechanical cleaning has been attempted, seems to indicate high clay content. Examination under ultraviolet light aided in this interpretation, showing no presence of pigments or organic binders. Examination under visible light in normal conditions and magnification shows areas where the clay incrustation is entirely lacking, which is more consistent with deposition rather than modern application. In these areas—many of which are high points of relief, such as the edge of the ears and tops of the hair—the clay and some of the terracotta seem to have been removed through abrasion. If the clay were applied in recent times, such areas would presumably present a different appearance, with the clay smoothly transitioning to reveal the underlying terracotta, which would most likely be little affected.

Notes

Group of Heads and Busts from the Taranto Region (cats. 4–23)

This discussion is reproduced on each of the individual object pages.

The group of twenty heads and busts (cats. 4–23) that were acquired by the Getty Museum in 1982 share a number of technical characteristics, despite the fact that they can be assigned to differing typologies, and very probably came from the same Tarentine workshop. Chronologically they span a period from the second half of the fifth century BC to the third and second centuries BC and seem to be linked by a shared history.

In the documentation about this acquisition, the group of terracottas was said to be connected to the extensive collection of Jacob Hirsch, a renowned early twentieth-century numismatist and art dealer; his collection also included a substantial array of material from Medma and Taranto. At or shortly before Hirsch’s death in 1955, a portion of this collection, which included more than 800 terracottas, became the property of his colleague Thomas Virzì, an antiquarian of Palermitan origin who over the years played a crucial role in the illegal sale and exportation of major artworks from Magna Graecia. Virzì was also a key figure in the story of the “enthroned goddess” from Taranto, now in the Altes Museum, Berlin, and he was an executor of Hirsch’s will, along with R. Schlesinger and J. Caskell. In 1957 an auction was held in Lucerne, and a selection of Hirsch’s original collection was offered for sale. Initially, in 1961, Virzì attempted to sell a portion of the 800 terracottas to the Antikenmuseum Basel; but it was not until the end of the 1970s that the Swiss museum actually purchased a block of artifacts from the former Virzì collection. This material had previously been exhibited, along with other privately owned terracottas, in 1978. The twenty examples published here show close parallels with the material from Basel.¹

The Saturo Hypothesis

In documentation held by the Getty Museum, this group is said to come “from Satyrion,” (modern Saturo), which stood on a promontory to the southeast of Taranto. This area was occupied as early as the Bronze Age, and it was one of the key locations in the region’s colonization, as well as a major place of worship.²

The Acropolis of Satyrion was a sacred site dating back to the Archaic period, with evidence of a polyadic cult and worship attributable to Athena, as attested by a dedicatory inscription. Behind the acropolis, in a valley with a freshwater spring, there was a second vast cultic area, showing signs of occupation dating back to the seventh century BC, as we know from the rich votive offerings that have been found there. This site of worship was probably redefined in the Hellenistic period with the construction of a sacellum (unroofed sacred building), inside which stood a sacred statue and a thesauros (storehouse or treasury). A second thesauros, containing coins and jewelry, was unearthed outside of the sacellum. A vast necropolis, used from the Archaic through the Hellenistic periods, covered part of the sacred area. Excavations were begun on the acropolis in 1959 and continued in the 1960s and 1970s, extending to the sanctuary area near the spring, with an intensification of digging between 1973 and 1977. The archaeological campaigns covered a broad territory, but the complex stratigraphy of the sites was not definitively established. Archaeologists did, however, unearth a substantial body of material, amounting to several hundred thousand artifacts, some of high quality, which still await a thorough critical publication. Inadequate maintenance and protection of the excavation over the years has resulted in serious tampering with the sites and circulation of a great deal of material originally found in the sanctuary.³ According to a recent study, the finds from deposits of votive offerings seem to date from no later than the third century BC, when the sanctuary suffered serious damage during the Hannibalic War. There is evidence of subsequent occupation of the area, with materials belonging to Roman farms that can be dated between the first century BC and the first century AD. Opinions differ as to the deities worshiped in the area: candidates range from the nymph Satyria to Aphrodite Basilis associated with Gaia or Persephone, in accordance with a complementary relationship of divine functions that linked military domination of the territory with the general realm of fertility, as evoked by the presence of the spring, and the chthonic world.⁴

Archaeological finds sold on the antiquities market are frequently assigned generic findspots from the best-known archaeological sites, such as Canosa, Taranto, or Locri (ancient Lokris). Also for this reason, Saturo deserved special attention as a very probable place of discovery. In fact, a brief and entirely preliminary examination of just a small portion of the large array of material from Saturo, especially the material linked to several favissae (burial places for sacred objects), allowed me to establish the presence of heads belonging to statues that had dimensions and typologies comparable to the Getty group, as well as specifications of fabrication and a type of fabric that were substantially similar, based on autoptic analysis.⁵

In addition to the Basel material mentioned above, the Getty heads can also be compared to the Tarentine heads in the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, which in all likelihood originated at least in part from the rich votive deposit of the Fondo Giovinazzi in Taranto. The latter must have been the site of a major sanctuary linked to an adjoining necropolis, abounding in coroplastic material of a variety of types, but most commonly that of the banqueter.⁶ Other links can be seen to the Tarentine terracottas now in the Musei Civici di Trieste.⁷

Recently, wide-ranging research has been undertaken on objects originating in various Tarentine votive contexts, which unfortunately are often chance discoveries or finds lacking any reliable documentation. Research in progress is based on scientifically cataloguing, on archival information review, and on examination of the objects’ associations and contexts, with a view to reinterpreting the individual typologies in terms peculiarities and functions specific to each topographic context.⁸ A similar study of the votive deposits of Saturo and its coroplastic material, with special attention to the statues and heads, might yield important new findings regarding the prototypes to which they might be linked through variants and molds of various generations.

The Typologies

The Getty group of terracottas comprises both busts and heads. The heads can be assigned to statues and busts of medium and large format probably deriving from one or several favissae, given that the votive offerings appear to have been deliberately broken off at the neck or torso; this ritual breakage was intended to prevent reuse of previously consecrated material. The terracottas display a considerable typological diversity and vary widely in age. There are female busts, generally datable to the second half of the fourth century BC, with a prevalently chthonic character (cats. 9 and 10); heads and busts of banqueters, characterized by wreaths and bands (cat. 7), and in one case depicting a figure in the act of singing (cat. 8), or with a nude bust (cat. 21); and heads of male children and youths, some with strongly individualized features, comparable with the coroplastic types of central Italy of the middle Republican period (cats. 19, 20, 23).

The other heads, which can tentatively be dated to the fourth and third centuries BC, can be traced to types that are also well established in various Tarentine votive contexts, reflecting the influence of sculptural prototypes by Lysippos and Praxiteles developed with the distinctive eclecticism that seems to be a main trait of the Tarentine coroplasts of the Early Hellenistic period. During this period, especially between the fourth century and the first half of the third century BC, Taras enjoyed remarkable prosperity and participated in the extensive cultural interactions among Greeks, Etruscans, Italic ethnic groups, and those further afield, thanks to its situation along trade routes that stretched from Greece, Egypt, and the East to Italy and Sicily. Located at this crossroads, Tarentine artists both received and transmitted stylistic models and types to and from other regions.⁹

Thus, in a number of works, such as the head at cat. 21, we find distinctive features derived from the portraits of Alexander the Great, which were especially popular also in the workshops of neighboring Heraclea and other Italic and Campanian centers.¹⁰ In other heads (cats. 14 and 18), we can identify echoes of Praxitelean style, especially in the mournfully tilted heads and in the soft, modulated chiaroscuro that seems to characterize a large portion of Tarentine production in the fourth century BC. From the end of the fifth century to the fourth century BC, moreover, we find other distinctly Tarentine types: alongside the types that appear sorrowful, with rapt expressions (for instance, cat. 21), with thin faces, lowered gaze, and thickened eyelids, there are others (for example, cat. 15 and the head of Orpheus, cat. 1) that have full faces, marked features reminiscent of the Severe style, and small mouths with fleshy lips that can be found in the sculpture of the same period, influenced by Attic art of the post-Phidian period.¹¹ The original contributions of Tarentine masters can be seen in the countless adaptations, revisions, variations, and reprises of the figurative vocabulary emanating from the Hellenic world and merging with vital local elements, which led to a continuous renewal of the Tarentine figurative culture. This rich and inventive vein can also be seen in soft-stone statuary and in marble funerary heads datable to the late fourth and third century centuries BC.¹² In particular, a number of our heads reveal a marked characterization of the facial features; though they cannot be classified as full-fledged portraits, they seem to reflect individualized features within the context of a somewhat rigidly codified iconographic repertory and representational models.

In fact, we cannot rule out the possibility that the artisans may have used as prototypes portraits derived from Early Hellenistic imagery, adding to those models individual features or distinctive attributes appropriate to the pertinent religious context.¹³ The influence of Tarentine coroplastic models, which developed in the context of the koine of early Hellenism, would ultimately influence not only southern Italian centers such as Lucera or Heraclea, but, in some cases, more distant regions such as Etruria, middle Italic centers, and even Rome, which, as it absorbed this tradition, enriched it with various components of Italic Hellenism. The discovery of terracotta statues and heads in a votive deposit in Ariccia, for instance, suggests that southern Italy may have played a role as intermediary in the transformation of tastes and formal choices of artists and craftsmen in central Italy, in part following Roman conquests in Magna Graecia.¹⁴

The presence of various types of votive offerings in Saturo and the relations among them, as is generally the case in the Tarentine religious contexts, is an area of study that awaits thorough examination based on a systematic analysis of individual sites. Such typological and iconographic diversity can only be understood in relation to the nature of deities worshiped in Saturo and their manifold and complementary roles, some of which were mentioned above: military protection of the territory, assurance of fertility, safeguarding of children from illness, and chthonic and funerary rites.

The Female Busts

In the case of the busts (cats. 9 and 10), the similarity to Sicilian prototypes is reasonably straightforward. The typology, however, was modified and elaborated by Tarentine coroplasts with the introduction of new hairstyles (such as hair gathered in a roll behind the neck, derived from the Severe style) and a distinctive stylistic vocabulary. This is particularly notable in the emphatic rendering of the eyes and mouths and in the precise, compact forms, coupled with the linear treatment of the hair (probably achieved by means of special comblike tools that helped to speed a vast serial production), which suggests a link between the Getty busts and the Tarentine workshops; in particular, cats. 9 and 10 seem to indicate a transitional phase from the shorthand depiction of deities (often depicted with polos, the high crown worn by goddesses) to the actual portrayal of the offerers, shown with progressively individuated facial features. In statuary, this phenomenon would become increasingly marked as Roman influence grew.¹⁵

Children

The head of a child (cat. 23), characterized by a cheerful expression and a sentimental pose conveyed by the slight tilt of the head, displays an iconographic affinity with comparable heads from the central Italic area as well was with the specific typology of crouching children that became common in the Near East and Greece beginning in the fourth century BC. Crouching children, often depicted holding an object or a small animal, can be found in Magna Graecia and Saturo, but also throughout the Etruscan and Italic world between the third and second centuries BC. It may be that a number of types already present in the central Italic context were re-elaborated by the coroplasts of Magna Graecia in response to specific cult practices and patronage. As regards Saturo, there may be links with kourotrophic cults as well as with the presence of the spring or with rites of passage from infancy to adulthood.¹⁶

The Banqueters

The heads at cats. 7, 8, 20, and 21 are certainly linked to reclining figures or banqueters. Many unanswered questions remain regarding the banqueters in Saturo, including chronology, context, cult significance, and iconography; their numerous and diffuse presence, however, is attested in votive deposits of the Tarentine funerary zone at least up to the end of the fourth century BC, when other types common throughout the Hellenistic Mediterranean were introduced in Taras. The type of the banqueter, which could be interpreted in a variety of ways, is more significant if it can be related to the specific context and associated material, which is unfortunately unknown for this group.

The reclining figure has often been assimilated with the figure of Hades or compared to the Tarentine hero Phalanthos, but also to the heroized deceased affiliated with the funerary cult of Zeus Katabaites. Enzo Lippolis has discussed the hypothesis that the image of the banqueter represents the transition of the deceased to the new otherworldly life, a moment that is codified through participation in a ritual symposion and the offering of an image of the heroized deceased. He notes that examination of the coroplastic material of the Tarentine votive deposits makes it is clear that the banqueter is almost invariably associated with diversified typologies, ranging from female figures belonging to the sphere of Demeter, to reliefs featuring the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), to the types of Polyboia (Polyboea) and Hyakinthos, to the statuettes of Artemis Bendis. For this, he refers to the study of individual contexts to attempt to clarify the specific aspect of the image.¹⁷

Of special interest in this connection is the discovery in a chamber tomb at Centuripe (a center that in the Hellenistic period had cultural and economic relations with the Apulian area) of a terracotta relief depicting a banqueting scene, a male figure with a horse, and an athlete, dating from the third century BC, in which there appear to be strong iconographic and typological links with Tarentine artisanal production. In these relief slabs, we also see motifs and elements that can be interpreted as the heroization of the deceased, clearly defined in terms of the social and political role that he played within the Centuripe community.¹⁸ This tendency in funerary practices to emphasize the decedent’s status has yet to be defined with certainty in the Tarentine context. Though it seems that no banqueter has been found in the contents of a tomb, it can be proposed that the image of the reclining figure may be connected to specific ritual functions within the necropolis and that it was intended to codify the new status of the deceased with reference to a specific otherworldly collocation.¹⁹

Technical Aspects

The fronts of pieces were produced with a mold; so, probably, were the backs, though the latter are only rounded off and not detailed. The hair might in some cases have been attached, as suggested by cat. 19, in which the separation of the locks is quite evident; attributes such as crowns and diadems could have been applied later as well.²⁰ The hole in the back of the head was intended for ventilation during the firing process.

The pieces feature, primarily, fabrics of two hues: a pinkish orange and a light beige. Both fabrics are porous, with a reasonably soft consistency and micaceous inclusions, with thickness ranging up to 2 centimeters. The pieces show evidence of uneven firing, resulting in shades that varied according to their distance from the heat source and to the presence or absence in the clay of grease-cutting substances that were used to ensure greater porosity and reduce the risk of deformation during the drying process. A grayish, poorly baked core characterizes some of the pieces. Before firing, the pieces were retouched with a pointed or toothed tool; and the hair, headgear, hats, and other accessories were added or shaped, a procedure that made it possible to diversify standard types.²¹ Nearly all the heads feature marked asymmetries in the faces. In sculpture, faces with asymmetries were usually intended to be seen in three-quarter view, from below, making it possible to recompose visually the entire facial structure in a more organic manner. The presence of these asymmetries in mass-produced terracottas, unconnected to the final placement, remains to be explained. We cannot exclude the possibility that the objects were derived from sculptural prototypes with these lifelike characteristics.²²

Once they were fired, the pieces were painted so as to emphasize their most distinctive features and, in some cases, to cover up defects and inaccuracies in workmanship; the pigment was applied over a layer of white, which generally consisted of calcite or kaolinite, smoothed over the clay surface for better adhesion of the pigment. Occasionally, a piece would be coated with a layer of diluted clay before the white pigment was laid on. The limited palette was part of the well-established artisanal tradition. From the traces of pigment that have survived, it has been deduced that the hair on the male heads was painted red, as were the lips, while pink was used for the complexion. The use of strong colors was intended to enliven the figures’ expressions. The quality of the molds was quite good, and the details were well defined. In a number of the heads, two holes are visible at the sides of the head, probably corresponding to the points where the hair was attached, or at the base of the neck, where decorations could be inserted. The fact that the backs of the heads were not properly finished would indicate that the pieces were to be viewed only from the front.

Notes